James Harden is shooting just 29.8 percent during the Rockets' first two playoff games. (Bill Baptist/NBAE/Getty Images)

Rockets guard James Harden reportedly argued with a reporter on Wednesday after Houston's loss to Portland in Game 2 of a first-round playoff series.

Harden shot only 6-of-19 from the field and scored 18 points as the Rockets lost at home again to fall behind 2-0 in the best-of-seven series. The performance, combined with his 8-of-28 effort in Game 1, prompted a reporter -- identified as NBA.com's Fran Blinebury -- to ask him multiple times about his offensive struggles.

Harden is asked about his offense beginning at the 43-second mark of the video below, and the same reporter follows up with two more questions about it:

But when his media session in the Rockets opulent locker room ended, Harden went back at the reporter, asking if he had ever seen a player not play well before. The reporter answered that the struggle seemed unusual for Harden and was coming on a major stage, the playoffs.

The two went back and forth for a while, with Harden asking the reporter if he’d ever seen a basketball game before, then demanding to know whom the reporter was. The exchange got testy enough that team officials stepped in to usher Harden out.

It's no surprise to see a struggling star get testy with the media, but when that escalates to name-calling, the line starts to be crossed. Questions about his 14-of-47 shooting (29.8 percent) in the first two games clearly didn't sit well with Harden, the NBA's fifth-leading regular-season scorer at 25.4 points. (Here is Blinebury's postgame column about Harden and the Rockets.)

Game 3 is Friday in Portland, where the Blazers went 31-10 during the regular season. Only 16 teams in NBA history have come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a playoff series.